Disclaimer

The characters used in this story are owned by DC comics and Warner bros. I have used them in this story which is entirely a product of my own imagination

Finale III

"Hawk Girl to Superman!" the conversation was cut by the incoming transmission. Sufficed to say, Clarke did not have much time to react to Diana's previous remark.

"Superman here! Have you reached the place?"

"Affirmative, although we see no signs of trouble whatsoever. The door looks like an old greek remnant of history, but there is no one guarding it. GL has checked for booby traps, but none exist. We are entering now."

"Hawk girl, we need you here! Try to follow up my comm. signal and reach me. Diana and I are in some magical shackles and we need you to break them!" Clarke said.

"Care to fill us in?" GL interrupted.

"Not now, GL! This is very important, a matter of life and….wait! Of Course!" Clarke realized that it was not very important to free them. "Hawk girl, find us! And the rest of you, try to find a witch like woman with a baby boy! That is more important. And when you find them, all you need to do is stay there, make sure that the witch sees you and just stay there. You don't need to do anything and hopefully the witch won't do anything either. This is more important. We have less than 5 minutes to find her!"

\"Your nephew?" Hawk Girl asked.

"Yes, my nephew, now get going!" Clarke shouted in exasperation.

"Well, 5 minutes is a lot of time!" Flash zoomed forward and began is style of search.

"I'm coming to you guys!" Hawk Girl flew away. GL was too slow to catch up.

"Um...I guess...I'll just join Flash!" he said and followed Flash.

"The odds are greatly in our favour!" Clarke remarked.

"I hope so!" Diana said.

We don't know about Flash and GL, but Hawk Girl was the first to reach her destination.

"Hey, Di! Having fun?" Hawk Girl grinned. Diana didn't return the smile.

"Get me out of here!" she almost screamed.

"Yeah, yeah, right!" Hawk Girl nodded as she swung her club and Diana was freed in an instant.

"Where is…" Hawk Girl wasn't given a chance to complete the question. Diana raised up into the air and rushed away.

"Hmm…" hawk Girl sighed, "I shall need some explanation later!"

"Hawk girl, I'm here! On the other side of the wall!" Superman's voice.

"Gotcha!" Hawk girl smiled and smashed the wall. Even before Superman could acknowledge her presence, he was out of the shackles.

"Now! Care to fill me in?" Hawk girl said.

"That witch is gonna harm him! We need to find them, soon!" Superman said, brushing the remnants of the chains off.

Hawk Girl was about to say something but he cut her off. "Superman to GL, Flash! Have you found them?"

"Not yet, Supz!" Flash responded, "This place has been thoroughly searched. No traces of witchery or sorcery, not even a green hair!"

"The witch doesn't have a green hair!" Superman scowled.

"Oh, Is it so? Well, I must've picked that up from somewhere! Say,…"

"Flash we don't have so much time! Search them!" Superman growled.

"Yeah, yeah! Sorry Supz! Woah woah, Diana! Where have you been all my life?" Flash remarked.

"I should've known!" Diana said in frustration, ignoring Flash, "We'll need help!"

GL flew in. "I've called in Zatanna, just in case!"

"Good thinking, GL!" Diana acknowledged half - heartedly. That wouldn't be soon enough.

"Even better idea! Let's teleport her! We have the coordinates!" Flash suggested, determined to win some attention.

Diana nodded and sighed. Bruce will kill me for this!

"And folks…the piggy just disappeared!" Zatanna was in the middle of her trick when she was teleported without warning.

"Um…I guess it's not the piggy who disappeared from the stage!" she shrugged as she considered her surroundings.

"Zatanna, we need to find a witch, with a baby boy! Fast!" Diana rushed her.

"Woah! Woah! Ok Ok, wassup!" Zatanna said.

"No time to explain, just do what she said!" Superman screamed as he landed, with Hawk Girl.

Zatanna stared at the others round-eyed, but they weren't helping her case either. "Very well, a witch with a boy..ha…" She seemed to reach for something in her pocket and finally took out a big fat volume, and began skimming through it.

Diana began stamping her foot impatiently. "You don't expect me to know this whole thing by heart, do you?" Zatanna smiled nervously.

"Never mind that, just go ahead!" Superman interjected. Diana frowned, but he was too occupied to notice.

"Ahh, here it is!" Zatanna pointed to something in the book and smiled. Flash tried to peek into it, but Zatanna pulled it away from him and put it back in her pocket. And then she muttered something, the others could only make out that she was speaking backwards again. And as she completed her spell, a thick green gas surrounded them and they coughed.

"Zatanna… (cough) did you get it right?" Diana spoke.

"I think I did!" Zatanna shouted out, "We must see that witch of yours soon!"

"She is not a witch…" Superman began and coughed.

"Never mind that!" Diana interrupted him.

The league held their positions and the smoke began to clear off, into what looked like a monstrous opening to a cave.

"Uh, oh!" Zatanna shrugged.

"Where are we?" Hawk Girl asked, clenching her club.

"I guess we have come to the witch!" Flash said, pointing to a silhouette at a distance. It looked like that of a standard witch alright!

"Ok, you asked for the witch, and you got her!" Zatanna replied.

Without further ado, Superman rushed in that direction. "Stop! You will not harm him! Give him to me!" he shouted. The others looked in that direction puzzled.

Diana rushed to Superman and stood beside him, panting a little, from all the excitement. The others followed too.

The figure in front of them slowly turned around. In her hands was baby Bruce, fast asleep.

"Give him to me!" Superman demanded, "Or…"

"You can't do anything, Kryptonian! I have cast my spell! His heart has to stop beating to prevent the eventuality!" she spoke in a hoarse voice which startled him. Then she turned to Diana and said, "Nice try, Princess! But this will all be over, precisely 15 seconds before the due time!"

Diana's face grew pale. Superman clenched his fists and charged towards the witch.

"Give him to me!" he growled, almost pulling Bruce away from her embrace. The witch did not resist.

"Tell me the spell! I'll see if I can break it!" Zatanna said suddenly. The witch looked at the new player who managed to find her.

"Amateur!" she smiled wickedly, "No magician of this world can stand a chance before the Gods!"

Zatanna seemed to go into a trance, and several incidents imposed on her mind at a time. She mumbled something, probably spoke something backwards. Diana realized that the witch had cast a spell on her.

"I do not wish to fight you! My job here is done! The verdict will soon be out, and I'm afraid, it won't be in your favour, princess! Well at least it will serve you and your kind as a lesson!" she said.

"I'd rather die than admit defeat!" Diana spoke in desperate anger. Her voice choked.

"The Gods won't let you do that, Princess! You are an immortal, and you shall live to be one! I have spoken!" the witch said and disappeared. Diana charged towards her and tried to grab her throat which only proved out to be a transparent illusion.

Silence prevailed for a while. The others looked from Diana to Superman to the baby. Hawk Girl finally mustered enough sense to speak.

"Diana, what…"

"Its all over, Shayera! All over!" Diana sank to her knees and buried her face in her palms. Hawk Girl leapt forward to hold Diana and console. The others only looked at them blankly.

"Diana! Tell me what it is! I'll do what I…"

"You cannot do anything, Shayera!" Diana squealed, "No one can! The one man I believed would, did not!"

Superman raised his head, startled. No wonder she was referring to him. He began to speak something, but realized it was of no use. His efforts didn't matter. Diana was going to lose Bruce forever, and nothing else mattered!

"How long have we?" he spoke in a low voice, supressing his tears.

Diana rose her head and looked at him in the eye. She knew she had to be mad at him. She knew she'd never forgive him after the eventful minutes passed by. She did not realize the pain in his eyes.

"About a minute!" she replied slowly.

"Where is Batman when you need him!" Flash whispered to GL, but it was loud enough to be heard.

Light seem to fill into the erstwhile dark cave. Diana knew who it was.

"Hera!" she said, but not with the tinge of honour and respect which usually accompanied it.

"You had your chance, Diana!" Hera spoke. "I know everything. And I believe everything will be over in a few seconds now. Hippolyta!"

Hippolyta came forward, dressed like a warrior, with a sword in her hand. Diana tried to look at her in the eye, but she refused to make an eye contact. Needless to say, she was eating her heart away from inside.

"60 seconds before the due. 45 seconds before it gets over!" Hera announced.

"Everyone, leave!" Diana muttered, her head bent. "And you," she said, turning to Superman, "Give him to me!"

The others did not dare to protest. Superman sighed and looked at the baby Bruce for one last time. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and held him towards Diana.

Diana took and held him close to her chest. She closed her eyes, but something felt amiss.

The 45 seconds passed by. Nothing happened….

60 seconds passed by….

Diana had opened her eyes with a start. Nothing happened. Bruce was still fast asleep, in her embrace. Hippolyta dropped her sword. Hera looked puzzled herself.

It's all over, Diana - was the unspoken.

The verdict was declared.

"Diana, the Princess of Themyscira, has won the man!"

That was the only thing said. That was the only thing that needed to be said. Diana wanted to jump with joy. But something was not right. Something felt amiss. She could not understand what it was. She looked at Superman for expression. He looked grave.

She looked at Bruce in her arms. 90 seconds had gone by.

She realized what was wrong!

Heart beat!

Bruce's heart wasn't beating!

But…

Diana almost broke into a cry when she saw Superman's expression dissolve into a smile – a smile that of achievement and satisfaction.

"Remind him to thank me!" he said.